Fever Dreams and Lost Things
by Toxic Smiling
Summary: Tritannus falls ill. In his fever, he dreams of the life he used to lead, and how his father had destroyed the love that was never there.


He knew the toxin made him stronger. He knew that it gave him power beyond the might of the man he once called his father.

Unfortunately, power came at a price: the toxin would wear off, and that left him weak. Emotionally and physically weak.

Darcy suggested that they lie in wait on Earth until the mutants found more pollution. Tritannus complied, thinking it a good idea at the time.

Humans, as he knew, were only good at breaking things and poisoning things. Normally, he was all for that. However, this time, it was different. There was one kind of earthling he couldn't destroy:

An illness that the humans called the flu.

Up until then, he had thought himself immune to common human ailments. He was, after all, a triton of good physical conditioning. He fondly recalled of a time when Nereus became ill with dropsy. He spread it to half the kingdom, and Tritannus remained healthy as a sea-horse through it all.

And even if that had not been the case, what virus could survive underwater? One too many trips to the surface, perhaps.

"Maybe the toxic weakened me, or something." He mumbled over the pounding in his head.

He had been propped up against a grass crop that two of his mutants had pounded into a makeshift sofa, not unlike the ones he used to lie on back at the castle.

"The castle..." He muttered the words past the horrible croak in his throat. Stormy had created a deluge and more of less flooded the bog that he, Icy and the others would be calling home for a short time. He was grateful for that, of course. The cool, moist air brought comfort to his heated skin and scales.

Icy and Darcy were hard at work brewing some ancient narcotic out of poisonous herbs. As long as this illness made him suffer, there wasn't much they could do to cure him. Dark Sirenix or otherwise, healing wasn't something witches were good at.

All the time, some of the mutants would try to coax some warm broth down his throat. He didn't see much point to that, either. His stomach was obviously incapable of handling food at the moment, and Darcy insisted that he be left with a discarded bucket at all times.

He felt rather undignified, but it wasn't like he had a choice. His stomach rumbled ominously at him, and it wasn't long before he was being lavishly sick into the rusty thing.

He mentally cursed whatever tiny intestinal gremlin that was currently attacking his insides as two perpetually cold hands pulled his hair back. At least, he thought, Icy was there for him. But that comforting thought lasted for a moment until it was replaced by more nausea. He retched and began another round of heaving.

"He's been doing that for nine house now, you'd think he'd be empty." Stormy muttered.

When his stomach finally settled, he lifted his head from the mess he'd made and leaned back. He silently willed the pounding in his head to cease. Icy rubbed a cold rag on his forehead silently.

He watched the world go fuzzy through half-lidded eyes, slowly becoming heavier... heavier... heavier...

"_TRITANNUS!" _

_The young triton cringed at the anger in his father's voice. Just seconds ago, he'd been expiring with laughter. An entire room full of noblemen were cowering before the lionfish he'd brought home. Nereus had been more than willing to help with his joke, but Neptune would, as always, only find fault with Tritannus._

_That's what his father deserved for not letting him come to the feast he'd prepared. He'd tried really hard to be good, but that was (of course) not enough._

_"Come here, boys." _

_Sighing, they moved out of the shadows to face their father. Nereus hung his head in shame._

_"Nereus, I am very disappointed in you." Nereus lifted his hands to protest, but quickly lowered them. "I'm very sorry, father." Tritannus had to stop himself from rolling his eyes._

_"Go to your chamber, Nereus. I'll be up to talk to you later."_

_Nereus began to slink off, and Tritannus was about to follow when King Neptune seized his by the wrist. He tried to struggle free, but his fathers grip was too strong. His arm began to feel numb as Neptune's grip got tighter. He gasped as the pain grew._

_"Neptune, y-you're hurting him!" Queen Ligea yelled, imploring._

_"Do you have any idea how stupid your little stunt was? You could've killed innocent tritons!" His father spat the words at him like a better fruit._

_White-hot knives were digging through his arm, his father continued to twist. He'd never seen his father so angry. The pain grew again, and Tritannus felt hot tears spring to his eyes. "Father, stop!" Then noblemen had all fallen silent. He was grateful that they were underwater, no one could tell that he was crying._

_"You worthless little mollusk!" Neptune was beside himself._

_With a jerk of his hand, Neptune flung the boy away. The boy was thrown toward his lionfish by accident. Tritannus had a second to cover his face before seven toxic spikes entered his back. _

_He screamed in pain as Neptune shoo'd the fish away. Tritannus looked up at his attacker, did he really mean for him to be poisoned? He looked ashamedly at the boy, Blood ran down his back, and he knew his wrist was badly sprained. He lay limp against a seashell pillar._

_"Tritannus..." King Neptune reached down to him. _

_"Get... back..." Pain blinded him, he couldn't tell whether the look of shame on his father's face was real. _

_The last thing he saw was King Neptune shouting for help, then palace guards hoisting him up. He neck went limp and all went black._

"Tritannus..."

A soothing female voice lulled him out of sleep. A woke with a start, gasping for air. He was laying on the ground, Icy held him in her hands

"Shhh..." Icy moved the rag across his forehead, which he noticed was caked in sweat. He became vaguely aware that streaks of hot water were on his cheeks. He hoped they were sweat, which was better than the alternative.

"You were thrashing like a fish on a hook." quipped Darcy, carting over a vial of the narcotic. "Small sips, or it won't stay down."

He did as he was told. The medicine pooled in his belly and eased the pain. Icy helped him into a sitting position. Stormy and Darcy rolled their eyes and went back to sentry duty. Icy looked at him. "What's wrong?"

Tritannus looked at his reflection in the murky water. He saw the marks on his forehead, he remembered his father.

"I-I just need a minute. I'll be right back."

Without another word, he dove into the water, deeper into the moor. Icy looked over at one of the mutants. "You!" She barked. "Go make sure he's alright!"

The mutants did as he was told; and Tritannus, who'd been lying nearby, saw the thing coming toward him.

"Go back" he gave moody sigh, "leave me alone."

He looked up at the mutant, who grunted at him. He knew this mutant well. It was once the king of the sea.

"It's you..." Tritannus mumbled under his breath. The mutant cooked its head. "You!"

Tritannus lunged for the thing, but the narcotic had weakened him and his stomach gave another violent churn. He withdrew, and the mutant fled back to the surface.

Tritannus watched him go, too weak to go after him. He could only watch his father swim away from him, rejecting him as he'd always done. Tritannus could control just about anything Neptune did in his mangled state, but he couldn't make his father listen to him.

"Why?" He screamed to the empty marsh. "Why was I never good enough for you!?"

He'd hoped, at the very least, his father regretted the failed relationship between them. At least then, he wouldn't be the only one.

"Tritannus?" Icy must've come down after the mutant failed. She rested her hand on his back. "Y-you've got a scar back here..."

Her fingers traced the lines where the quills had entered his flesh. His breath caught in the lump in his throat. He couldn't cry, not in front of Icy.

"Tritannus?" Icy looked he wrapped his arms around his stomach. "If you're gonna puke again, I'm getting out."

"No... It's just..." He pressed his lips together. "I'll be up in few minutes."

"Are you sure?"

"Promise." He shot her his trademark smirk of arrogance. She smirked back and planted a kiss in his cheek. "I'll have more medicine ready soon."

With that, she was gone. Tritannus turned away from her, the world outside.

He dropped to the sandy muck, hating the emotion that his illness brought on. He wanted to stop caring, to go back to the hating, the arrogance, the pursuit of the power and the glory that he rightfully deserved.

He could have all that, but there was no escaping the truth: His father would never love him. He and Nereus came from the same cell, but he would never have the security his brother did.

He wasted his childhood reigning over beings who hated him. He wasted adolescence waiting for the security of his father's approval. He wanted the same approval Nereus got. No matter how hard his brother fell, his father would be there to catch him. His hands were like performer's net, stable and secure.

For the water, he was grateful. When he surfaced, the tears would fall away with the rest of the seawater.

He had wasted his life away hoping for something that would never happen, Nereus had everything Tritannus could've wanted, as per quo.

No power in existence could ever change that.


End file.
